Never Seduce a Scot (The Montgomerys and Armstrongs #1)(98)

Robina stared at Graeme in utter bewilderment. “ ’Tis true?”

Graeme issued a short nod and then turned his attention back to Eveline. Even though he knew she could not hear him, he was nearly compelled to speak to her. Instead, he contented himself with touching her, stroking his fingers over her face as he prayed for her to awaken.

Turning to the others, he issued a short command for them to leave the room so he could remove her damp clothing. Then he glanced at her father. “Will you have a serving woman build up the fire? I don’t want Eveline to be cold.”

“I’ll fetch a warm sleeping gown for her to wear,” Robina said, already hurrying for the door.

Tavis himself put wood in the bare fireplace and put flame to the logs. When Robina pushed back into the chamber, she shooed the others away, and then she came to stand beside Graeme.

“I’ll tend to my daughter if you wish to step outside with the others.”

“I’m not leaving her,” Graeme said bluntly. “You can stay or go as you wish, but I am going to examine her myself so I can see what injuries she has sustained. Have you a healer you can summon if ’tis more serious than I fear?”

Robina nodded wordlessly, her expression still one of befuddlement over Graeme’s fierceness when it came to Eveline. It was no matter. She’d learn soon enough that he had no intention of leaving Eveline’s side.

Satisfied that she’d question him no further, he turned his attention to removing the tattered, dirty dress that clung damply to her skin.

Her mother gasped when the fading bruises that had already been present on Eveline came into view.

“Oh merciful heaven,” Robina whispered.

“ ’Tis not what you think,” Graeme said grimly. “She sustained these bruises not at the hands of Ian McHugh, but from a fall from a horse while she was still on Montgomery land.”

“A horse?” Robina exclaimed. “Why on earth was she on a horse? Did you force her to ride?”

Graeme whipped his head around. “Of course I did not. She rode back to the keep to summon help for me when I was felled by an arrow.”

Robina’s eyes rounded once more in astonishment. It was an expression that seemed permanently imprinted on her face ever since Graeme’s arrival. He supposed he understood her confusion. It would seem they’d known very little of their daughter, which was a shame, because Eveline was extremely special.

Graeme finished removing the gown, relieved when he saw no sign of further injury to her body. He could only pray that Ian had not raped her. The thought made his stomach clench and his heart ache.

With Robina’s help, he gently bathed her skin, removing the dirt and grime from the dungeon, as well as the smell. He didn’t want her to experience any discomfort. After she was clean, he attired her in a fresh woolen gown lined with fur that kept her warm and also prevented the wool from scratching her skin.

He gently pulled her hair away from her head and then meticulously ran his fingers over her scalp to check for any bumps or breaks in the skin.

“It would seem all he did was bruise her face,” Graeme said in relief. He hoped with all his might that it was all. But what he feared the most was what the ordeal had done to her spirit.

“Tavis said you ran him through.”

Graeme nodded, not turning away from Eveline.

“Good,” Robina said fiercely.

Graeme leaned down and pressed his lips to Eveline’s cool forehead. “Come back to me,” he whispered. “I’m waiting, Eveline.”

She stirred beneath his touch and his pulse rocketed up until it was hammering at his temples. He drew away, framing her face in his hands, cupping her cheeks, filling her with as much of his warmth as he could. He wanted her to awaken knowing she was safe.

As her eyelids fluttered and opened, he leaned even closer so his face would be the first she saw. She blinked several times as if trying to rid herself of her confusion, and then her eyes flooded with crushing relief.

She smiled, a more beautiful sight than Graeme had ever seen in his life.

“I knew you’d come,” she whispered in a hoarse voice.

CHAPTER 46

It was more than Graeme could withstand. Tears burned his eyelids and his nostrils flared with the effort he exerted not to completely lose his composure.

Ignoring Robina’s startled gasp over the fact Eveline had spoken, he focused solely on his beautiful wife and on reassuring her that she was safe and with those who loved her.

“Do not try to speak, my love,” he said tenderly. “Your throat must pain you. You sound like a croaking frog.”

Eveline grimaced and raised a hand to her throat. “I screamed, praying someone would hear. It was so dark.” She broke off, tears swimming in her eyes as she sucked in deep breaths through her nostrils. “I was so afraid. He intended to keep me there.”

Her voice completely trailed off even as her mouth still moved as she tried to speak. He put a finger to her lips, shushing her. Then he followed his finger with his own lips and kissed her, long and sweet, absorbing the sensation of being able to touch her and smell her and drink her in. To know that she was safe from harm. That she’d survived and he hadn’t lost her.

He leaned his forehead against hers, and then he simply gathered her in his arms and held her close, rocking back and forth as he ran his hands up and down her back.